Cycling Economics, Part II

Today's cycling economics lesson is courtesty of today's Omaha World Herald. This article, talks about a study from the University of Northern Iowa and starts by saying:

"(Bicycle)riders and their friends and family who drive cars across Iowa don't just spend money. They spend lots of it, and at every stop."

It goes on to say:

"The average RAGBRAI group, which consisted of approximately two people, spent $1,900 in Iowa during the weeklong bicycle tour. The estimated impact: Every dollar spent created about 49 cents in local spending."

Build it and they will come .... and they will spend!

Bicycling and Walking in the U.S.: 2010 Benchmarking Report

The Alliance for Biking & Walking has recently released the Alliance 2010 Benchmarking Report: Information & Findings.

Bicycling and Walking in the U.S.: 2010 Benchmarking Report is an essential resource and tool for government officials, advocates, and those working to promote bicycling and walking. The Benchmarking Project is an on-going effort to collect and analyze data on bicycling and walking in all 50 states and the 51 largest U.S. cities. This second biennial report reveals data including: bicycling and walking levels and demographics; bicycle and pedestrian safety; bicycle and pedestrian policies and provisions; funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects; bicycle and pedestrian staffing levels; written policies on bicycling and walking; bicycle infrastructure including bike lanes, paths, signed bike routes, and bicycle parking; bike-transit integration including presence of bike racks on buses, bike parking at transit stops; bicycling and walking education and encouragement activities; and public health indicators including levels of obesity, physical activity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. The report is full of data tables and graphs so you can see how your state or city stacks up. Inside you will find unprecedented statistics to help support your case for increasing safe bicycling and walking in your community. Bicycling and Walking in the U.S.: 2010 Benchmarking Report was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and made possible through the additional support of Bikes Belong and Planet Bike.

Cycling's Economic Impact

From the Wisconsin Bike Federation: Bicycling Contributes nearly $1.5 billion to Wisconsin's Economy every year. http://www.bfw.org/education/index.php?category_id=4746

Granted, the headquarters of Trek and other cycling-related companies are located in Wisconsin, but some of these other statistics are too impressive to ignore:

"Combined with previous estimates of the state’s bicycle manufacturing, sales, and services industry, this means bicycling generates more than $1.5 billion a year in total economic impact."

"By incorporating physical activity into the lives of sedentary Wisconsin residents, bicycling to work could save approximately $319 million a year from reduced morbidity and healthcare costs," they explain. "In addition, fewer cars on the road would result in a decrease in air pollution by fine particulate matter and ozone. This would not only reduce health problems such as asthma and chronic bronchitis but would further reduce health care costs by almost $90 million annually in Milwaukee and Madison alone."

One of our "unofficial manefestos," Pedaling Revolution by Jeff Mapes, also discusses the impact of cycling on the economy of Portland.

This is exactly the kind of information that we need to keep in our back pockets when we get push-back from people about being a bunch of "Lance Armstrong wanna-be's," or when we engage businesses in the conversation about becoming bike friendly merchants!

Discuss.

THOR Event

An invitation from our friends at THOR:

You're invited to attend the annual members meeting Sat., February 6.

Our goal is to fill dirt and non-dirt moving positions that are necessary

to keep this club sustainable and help it grow. We need you and your friends, significant

others, or family to attend as well. With fitness being top of mind and community programs in

desperate measures, we, if we do it right, can help make a difference.

So, please come with ideas, and a willingness to roll up your sleeves and

discuss ways in which we can meet our goals in 2010.

DATE: SATURDAY FEB 6

TIME: 10AM - NOONish
PLACE: National Park Service, 601 Riverfront Dr., (just south of the new pedestrian bridge on the
river front)

DIRECTIONS:
From CB, take the Old Market exit off of the 480 bridge. Take right on 10th and then an immediate right on Capitol Ave and then a left on Riverfront Dr, behind the Qwest Center.

From Omaha proper, take Dodge all the way downtown to 10th street and go under the interstate ramp and follow the above directions.

You can also check out the group's website to learn more! 

Tire Sizes and Utility Cycling

One of the blogs I follow on a daily basis is EcoVelo. They do a great job of discussing the topics that are important to people that use bikes as transportation tools as apposed to leisure toys. They also have a good eye for photography and style which makes their site pleasing to the eye as well as the mind.

Today they posted an article that discusses tire sizes and pressure for utility cycling.

It’s a common misconception that wider tires are slower, but this is not necessarily the case, particularly at non-racing speeds on rough roads. Bicycle Quarterly has done extensive testing on suspension losses and their conclusions show that on rough roads, up to 50% of a bicyclist’s power output can be attributed to suspension losses, and these losses are best mitigated by wide tires run at lower pressures.

Head on over and read the article and vote on your preferred tire size and tire pressure for commuting.

Wanted: Bike Trainer

You may have heard about the bike blender?  Have I mentioned that before?  At any rate, you are probably (painfully) aware by now that we have the awesome homemade bike blender on the vintage tandem bike that we created at the Community Bike Shop.  The mini-grant we received from the National Center for Safe Routes to School has money in the budget for a commercially made bike blender...so now we will have two!  We already have the blenders booked for some school events coming up! 

The issue:  We need a trainer to set up the bike blender bikes.  I have used our personal one so far, but it would make things much easier if we had a dedicated one that can be stored/transported with the bikes.  It obviously does not need to be in spectacular working condition; but it does need to be able to support elementary school kids who want to see how fast they can pedal.  :) 

If we could get an old trainer donated to us, I would jump for joy!!  The other thought I had was to do some sort of bike trainer fundraiser night, with the proceeds going towards purchasing one....but we'll try the donation route first.

You can contact me at jharris (at) activateomaha (dot) org if you have one and want to make a deal! 

Omaha Bikes January Meeting Minutes

Omaha Bikes meeting minutes
January 2010
Wohlner’s Grocery, 11:00am

In attendance: Bob Brindamour, Dave Reinarz, Ryan Feagan, Mark Siepker, Julie Harris, Joe Simoens, Jonathan Nieve, Scott Redd, Sarah Johnson, Ben Brownlow, Mike Douglas, Matt Martin, Tammie Dodge

NEWS:
There is a sample letter in the process of being drafted that can be used to send to our public officials regarding the concerns over time/process for trail projects and other improvements. We will make that available on the blog and other places when it is complete.

The National Bike Summit is being held in Washington DC from March 9-11. It is a pricey trip, but any and all are invited. Activate Omaha staff will be attending, and will be setting up meetings with our congressional representatives to discuss bicycle transportation issues. It was also noted that bike shop employees, that have never attended The Nation Bike Summit, could apply for a scholarship to the event to help reduce the cost of attending (Dave Reinarz has details on what organization offers that scholarship).

There is a public “Resource Conservation” meeting on January 20 – Details are available on the blog.

Greenstreet Cycles is having a social event on January 21 at 6pm. Go and support Sarah! Details are available on Sarah’s facebook page.

Sarah Johnson noted that she is working with a group involved with World Environment Day – they are looking at taking the Earth Day message about alternative energy and continuing beyond the one day event on April 22. Contact SarahJohnson to get more information!

EXISTING BUSINESS:
We have shifted our official name from Bike Omaha to Omaha Bikes. This is to avoid the assumption that we are part of the city’s Bike Omaha bike lane loop, etc. The Omaha Bikes blog, @OmahaBikes Twitter, Facebook and other communication have shifted, so please adjust accordingly.

It was decided that officers will be elected each January for 1 year terms. This year’s group:
President: Bob Brindamour
Treasurer: Tammie Dodge
Secretary: Julie Harris

Bike De’Lights was a success! We had 27 riders, and all had a great time. We definitely want to make this an annual event. Thanks to all who helped plan and everyone who came to ride.

Subcommittee Updates:
1. Handlebar Happy Hours – 3 events coming this spring/summer. Aksarben Village identified as a potential location; Mark is in communication with them.
2. Bike Friendly Merchants – Sarah has spoken to some business owners to get an idea of what they might be willing to pay for, and what the benefits might be. The AO grad student helping out this spring will be able to help with this committee.
3. Bicycle Parking – 50 racks are available, being created by a local steel fabricator. A meeting was held on January 7 to discuss the process for requesting a rack, and the potential locations for racks. Please email Tammie (Tammie [AT] activateomaha [DOT] org) if you have ideas for good locations. Ideas can also be provided via the Omaha Bikes facebook page, and the Omaha Bikes blog.
4. Youth Engagement – There will be plenty of opportunities where volunteers will be needed to help out at schools this spring; please step up if you can when those requests come out from Julie.
5. Ryan Feagan is now attending our meetings as the Nebraska Cycling Association liaison. Roxzanne Feagan also plans to attend future meetings as the T.H.O.R. liaison. Ryan noted that there was a meeting on 1/16 with the IMBA representative. Dale also represents T.H.O.R.

NEW BUSINESS:

A Membership committee has been formed. The first tasks for this committee will be researching other bicycle federations (Chicago, New York, etc) to see how they evolved, and seeing what we can learn from them. Please let Bob know if you are interested in helping with this sub-committee.

Finding a centrally located and quiet meeting location for our group is ongoing. Our next meeting will be at the First Data Visitor Conference Room at 6855 pacific street on February 9th from 11:00am till 1:00pm.

Sign up sheets were distributed for the various committees. In addition to those listed above, we now also have membership, and social networking/Web. If you could not attend the meeting, please let us know where you want to plug in!

Please feel free to invite others to join our meetings – send contact information to Bob (underdahill [AT] gmail [DOT] com) or Julie (jharris [AT] activateomaha [DOT] org) and we will make sure they get on the list when meeting reminders are sent out.

Environment Omaha Meeting

This might be a good place for our group to give some input, specifically on the urban environment. http://www.environmentomaha.com/ I'm going to try to make it, but since I'm terrible at making it to our meetings it might be good to have others there also.
-Brian

Safe Route Sunday

Please help by taking part in Safe Route Sunday.  No formalities, no rsvp's, no meetings ... find a drift blocking a sidewalk and clear it. 

Intersections near schools need particular attention.  Kids are climbing mounds of snow/ice to get across streets, and it is very dangerous.  Yes, somebody else shoulda coulda woulda, but the kids who are on foot everyday shouldn't have to pay the price. 

We are so inspired by the Guerilla Trail Crew that cleared part of the Keystone trail last weekend - let's all pick up a shovel and do our part this weekend!

A few motivational videos

Let's Go Ride a Bike posted a link to this video last week. 

The Waltz of the Bikes from mike rubbo on Vimeo.

The next video was spotted at Crossing Trails.



Enjoy.